For the longest time I've had the Gamecube bonus disk that has Zelda 1, Zelda 2, Ocarina of Time and Mask of Majora. I have been wanting and wating to play these games for ages. I have never had any Nintendo console growing up so I have never played these games. When I finished playing Windwaker, I knew I had to play the older Zelda games.

I'm now on a mission to play these four and Link to the Past on the Gamecube as well.

I'm not doing this in any particular order. I'm currently playing Ocarina of Time and I'm really, really enjoying it! I just finsihed Dodongo's Cavern and heading back to the Goron City.

I'm also going to start Zelda 1 at the same time I'm playing Ocarina. I also got myself started in Link to the Past as well. So, I'm currently running three Zelda games at once! I'm really on a Zelda kick lately.

Did anyone else play all these games on the current systems or did most of you play them on the original Nintendo systems?

I played all but Ocarina and MM on the original systems. I played Ocarina on an emulator originally and have played it on the gamecube since then. I also have played all the others on the cube as well. The only one I haven't finished is Majora's Mask, which I find hard to play due to the awful save system. I really need to play an emulated version of that so I can finally win it though. Zelda 2 I haven't one on the cube, but did win on the NES.

Played all the NES and SNES ones, never played MM or OoT. I have that disk, but I lent my cube to a buddy. :: shrug ::. I wasn't too impressed with the first 5 min of MM, so I'm holding off for a rainy day. Dammit, there's too many great new games to get caught up in the old stuff right now.

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Played all the NES and SNES ones, never played MM or OoT. I have that disk, but I lent my cube to a buddy. :: shrug ::. I wasn't too impressed with the first 5 min of MM, so I'm holding off for a rainy day. Dammit, there's too many great new games to get caught up in the old stuff right now.

Play Ocarina of Time first!!! It is WAY better than MM. I'm a huge Zelda fan and I didnt really like MM that much. Ocarina of Time is a much better experience!

I think Majora's Mask is a much more creative and intense game than Ocarina. The save system and binding timeframe mechanic are rough, but few people ever realized that you can save the game as you are at any time. That's what the owls were for - they saved your exact progress, down to the minute, whenever you wanted to. You just had to remember to save the game in this manner before you turned off the system, or warp back to the beginning. It's like a whole mob of people never even understood this, and the game got hammered because of it.

I love Majora. I don't think it's the best game of the series, but it's easily my favourite.

but few people ever realized that you can save the game as you are at any time. That's what the owls were for - they saved your exact progress, down to the minute, whenever you wanted to. You just had to remember to save the game in this manner before you turned off the system, or warp back to the beginning. It's like a whole mob of people never even understood this, and the game got hammered because of it.

I understood/understand it perfectly, and completely loathe it. It's a savepoint that's not really a savepoint. If you're going to limit me with savepoints (and boy do I have a rant about lazy programmers continuing to make console gamers put up with them, but that's another post...) then MAKE THEM SAVEPOINTS! Meaning, don't make them go away when I reload. On the other hand, if you want me to be able to exit the game when I want and pick up when I left off, understanding that I will not have that save point when I resume, that's ok too, but don't LIMIT WHEN I CAN DO IT!!! I'll take one restriction or the other, but not both. Coupling the crappy save system with a freaking time limit, just makes the whole experience stressful for me.

You guys are scaring me about this save system in Majora's Mask! Is it really that bad?

The only thing that annoys me about Ocarina is the save system. No matter where I save if I reload it starts me back in Kakariko Village in my tree home or at the start of a dungeon if I'm in the dungeon. It's annoying because I always have to backtrack. Why is that? Why can't I just reload and start right at the spot where I saved?

Otherwise, I'm having a great time. Can't wait to get back to it after my son's baseball game tonight. It's weird because I'm primed and ready for the X360 and I'm playing, and enjoying, these old games!

You guys are scaring me about this save system in Majora's Mask! Is it really that bad?

The only thing that annoys me about Ocarina is the save system. No matter where I save if I reload it starts me back in Kakariko Village in my tree home or at the start of a dungeon if I'm in the dungeon. It's annoying because I always have to backtrack. Why is that? Why can't I just reload and start right at the spot where I saved?

Oh boy, if you don't like the normal Zelda save system, you are in for a bad surprise when you start MM.

(Trying to be spoiler free here, but there are some abstract spoilers)Basically, there are 2 methods to save your game. But before I mention that, you need to realize that in MM all the action takes place over 3 days. At the end of the 3 days, the area-the-game-takes-place-in comes to an end. So, you learn a song that takes you back to the beginning of the first day. The problem is, all of your progress is lost when you do this. (Except for key things that you do to progress the game.) So, that is the way you save your game anywhere you want, you play the song and go back to the first day. But, if you were in the middle of clearing the first dungeon, well you will not only have to start the entire dungeon over, but you will have to make it TO the dungeon again from scratch.

There are also save points marked as owl statues in the game. When you save with those, you keep the game exactly as you want it, and can return. But, once you do resume the game from your owl's savepoint, that save is gone, meaning if you want to exit the game you have to find another owl (they aren't plentiful) or play the song and lose all the progress you made after (and possibly before) you saved at the owl before. (It's like the Suspend option in the Fire Emblem games, but you can't do it anywhere/anytime you want, you have to find the statue.)

Couple this with the fact that you are trying to complete a dungeon within the 3 day time limit, and it makes for a stressful experience for me, and the main reason I haven't completed the game. Having said that, I do think MM is an awesome game that is marred by the system, hence my desire to play it on an emulator where I can alleviate some of the problems I have with it.

Seriously the only way I could play games like this is with an emulator which lets you take a "snapshot" or save state at any time you want and you can reload that exact spot any time you want. Most save systems like Zelda's make me angry.

If you load an owl save point and then need to leave the game, you just save the game again at one of the owls. Yes, there are no "static" saves that last permanently until re-written, but if you want to keep your progress (which isn't necessarily every time you want to quit the game), you just find another owl.

They are located outside of every dungeon, and in every main location. I never found them especially hard to find, or needing in any specific place.

And as for the time limit, you find a "slowing" song very early into the game that makes the time limit all but non existant. I played it every time I started up the game, and never had an issue of not having enough time to finish a dungeon. The only time I didn't play the song was when I needed to accomplish time specific tasks.

But you know what? I'm not trying to convince you that you're wrong about the save system. It didn't work for you, and you didn't enjoy the game because of it. I thought that the designers had enough variety in the save methods to fit in with the countdown mechanic that I could finish, and enjoy the game in the process.

There is no reason for a Zelda fan to not try, not to rent, or borrow, or "try" in some manner Majora, because it is a hell of a game.

I tried replaying Majora's Mask recently, but I was shocked to see how dated the graphics are. I can't believe I used to be amazed by these visuals! The funny thing is, I can usually look right past dated graphics--I've replayed the NES Zelda very often, I still enjoy text-input Sierra games...

I tried replaying Majora's Mask recently, but I was shocked to see how dated the graphics are. I can't believe I used to be amazed by these visuals! The funny thing is, I can usually look right past dated graphics--I've replayed the NES Zelda very often, I still enjoy text-input Sierra games...

I think old 2d games just age better than old 3d.

Because 2D graphics don't change that much. Stuff from today looks the same as it did 10 years ago.

No 2d game today looks as bad as that. The visuals are dated. But somehow I have no problem at all replaying Space Quest III, and I do have a hard time looking at Majora's Mask, a game released eleven years later.

No 2d game today looks as bad as that. The visuals are dated. But somehow I have no problem at all replaying Space Quest III, and I do have a hard time looking at Majora's Mask, a game released eleven years later.

In no way is the save system in Ocarina ruining the game for me. It's just an annoyance. Also, in my original post I didn't mean to say Kakariko Village - I meant Kokiri Forest, Links home. Too many damn K's! :wink:

I'm really looking forward to starting Majora's Mask, save system and timed play and all. Zelda 1 is up first though.

Ocarina of TimeDid anyone find everything there is to find in Ocarina? There is so much stuff (a good thing)! I usually will go through an area/town/dungeon first and before leaving I will check the stategy guide to see if there is anything I missed. For example, those darn Gold Skulltula's. I always miss them and without using the strategy guide there is no way I would find them all. Unless of course they were obvious like using the unique sound they make to find them.

What makes the Zelda games fun to me is the mixture of adventuring, always finding something new and the story.

Link to the Past [NGC]This one is also tons of fun! I love the puzzle solving. That's what makes this game for me. The little Windwaker-like graphics are also a nice touch. I'm currently inside what I believe is the first massive dungeon and having a devil of a time in this room where I have no light and have to get through this maze like thing while some strange plants are shooting at me. Cool! And who is this strange shadow Link guy - I wonder. :?

No 2d game today looks as bad as that. The visuals are dated. But somehow I have no problem at all replaying Space Quest III, and I do have a hard time looking at Majora's Mask, a game released eleven years later.

Memories....

Deceleration Trauma!!!!!! Decompression Sucks!!!!

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Tom "Dreamshadow" Tjarks Aunt Wu: Care to hear your fortune, handsome? Iroh: At my age there is really only one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery.

I tried to replay the Zelda's on my cube when I had it and I got nothing but bored by both of them when about 2-3 hours in. I have no idea why, maybe just not my kind of game?

You then might want to rethink Kameo as one of your 360 games, as it is very similar in gameplay style....

Ive seen a couple 15-20 minute long gameplay videos of Kameo, and unless I am crazy or blind, it doesn't look very much like Zelda at all. And as long as it doesnt have a 15 hour long collect the Triforce all over the ocean quest, I will probably be ok

Um, do you mean the original graphic style that inspired the other games, or was there some sort of update for the GCN re-release?

Not sure about the update thing since I never played the original. But, the little graphical spinny things, magic effects resulting from combat (defeating an enemy) etc. all have that same cell-shaded Windwaker-type look to it. I don't know how else to explain it. If you played Windwaker you know what I'm talking about.

He he, I'm guessing any graphical similarities were inspired by A Link to the Past. Wind Waker tried to have a sort of living cartoon feel that harkened back to ALttP's art style. I just wish the colours had been as vibrant as ALttP's - I found Wind Waker's colour palette kind of bland.